The goat is nice and all, but you know those little 99 cent bags of plastic animals you can buy at Rite-Aid or any dollar store? They have goats aplenty... just saying. Animal minis are pretty easy to get. Monsters, heroes, etc... not so much.

So my players are about halfway finished clearing out the prison. They have contacted Vesorianna, procured the warden's seal/necklace (and returned it to her), destroyed the Splatter Man and the Mosswater Marauder.

The Lopper, Piper, and Father Charlatan remain. My question is... Gibbs should now be free of his possession correct? Also, would the monumental desecrations stop since the Splatter Man has been neutralized? It seems to me that the element of time is no longer against the party because the head ghost has been dealt with.

So the two lottery events I won are showing on my schedule, but none of the PFS games are. I double (triple) checked to make sure everything was fine well before the deadline, but I am now missing all of the PFS games I signed up for.

Any ideas on what happened? Will I still be able to get into some PFS games (the main reason I am attending)?

Record of Lodoss War (the original anime... not the Heroic Knight) is chock full of references to D&D including gaining experience, leveling up, etc. Love it. I understand there actually is an RPG that came out in Japan which used Lodoss as the setting.

I've enjoyed running this adventure, and am slowly regaining my DM'ing chops (after a long hiatus). I actually had Kendra end up joining the party as an NPC (we have a 4 man party) and they are currently exploring Harrowstone. I wanted to make her a little more proactive, her father's daughter so-to-speak, and more than a little curious about the circumstances of his demise.

I completely did away with the trust system and have just been using good old fashioned roleplay for interactions with the townsfolk. So far the Sheriff and Father Grimburrow are the only NPCs they have had regular contact with. Also, the sheriff deputized the party to aid him with his own investigations into events... further incentive. I'm having fun with this one.

Thanks all for the answers, it clears up quite a bit! The enlarge person/animal companion in question here is a sorcerer with a wolf companion. I think I am going to go ahead and allow it based upon the responses.

Ok thank you for that info. I am currently running Carrion Crown (Harrowstone) and am intrigued by the possibilities of an orc raid or outright attack on what looks like a wide open border. We have a half-orc barbarian who has a special grudge against one of the tribes of Belkzen, and I wanted to work it into the campaign in some way.

Orcs are certainly headstrong and fearless for the most part, and would likely not think twice about whatever might or might not be in Ustalav unless they were presented with overwhelming force. I do have Trial of the Beast and will brush up on that as far as the border guards go.

I'm willing to bet however that Ustalav's supernatural entities (undead, lycanthropes, etc) would not take any more kindly to an orc invasion than would the living humans. It would make for some interesting situations if a large orc horde were to invade, maybe creating some interesting temporary alliances out of necessity. "The enemy of my enemy" and so forth...

I own the Inner Sea World Guide and have read the entries on the PF Wiki concerning Ustalav and The Hold of Belkzen, but can find nothing on what would seem to be an important issue, namely what defenses do the settlements in Western Ustalav have to counter an invading orc horde out of Belkzen?

I can find no information on Ustalav's military, and nothing concerning border defenses. Any lore junkies out there with some insight?

When I level and put another rank into a class skill, does this mean I get an additional +3 for each rank I put into it? For example... I have climbing as a class skill, so at level 1 if I put a rank into it I get +4 (without ability modifier). So at level 2 I decide to put another rank in it... does that mean it goes up to +8?

Alas, poor Yorick! I ate him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent taste; he hath filled my nagging belly a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have rudely chewed off. Where be your ribs now?

I was actually thinking he is about to go bowling. Denizen of Leng is the definite winner in my mind out of those four. So far my favorite is the Bugbear however.

Personally I don't see anything sexually suggestive about the tanuki's ample package. It's the way they are built/born. The old Japanese statues, woodcuts, paintings, etc that feature tanuki are not sexually suggestive either... nor is Pom Poko for that matter. It's odd to me.

Sounds like a Tarrasque-esque type of creature, making it unique. Although it's not unusual for Paizo to take creatures from mythology that are usually singular and turn them into a species. But yeah, definitely look at the behemoths or tarrasques and go from there.

*coff**coff* Minotaurs*coff**coff*

Minotaurs have been a staple fantasy "race" since OD&D, but yea... I still see your point. When the Tarrasque was introduced in the MM2 (AD&D) I believe it was a unique creature almost on par with a deity (someone please correct me if I am wrong on that count).

Anyhoo... I was also under the impression that Paizo has included a metric ton of Asian mythological beasties in the setting, particularly in Bestiary 3.

So I am starting the Carrion Crown AP, but the PCs first need to get from Sandpoint (where they concluded the Beginner's Box adventure) to Ravengro in Ustalav.

Any Golarion geographers out there that can help me with approximate travel times? I am thinking as follows:

1. Ship from Sandpoint to Korvosa.
2. Overland through Nirmathas to Tamran (On a coach if such thing exist in Nirmathas).
3. Ship from Tamran to Caliphas.
4. Overland to Ravengro via coach or horseback, staying well away from the border of the Hold of Belkzen

I'm working on an NPC for my upcoming campaign. He's a vampire thrall (a human servant/slave to a vampire) but not a vampire spawn as presented in the bestiary. This would be basically one of the mortals who guards his master's lair during the vulnerable daylight hours.

I realize the obvious thing would just to make him a normal human, however I'd like to give him a few traits that would differentiate him as a thrall to a master vampire.

Unfortunately WoW has stripped away much of what makes different classes unique since release. Now every class can heal somehow, every class has some sort of AE or crowd control ability, etc. Balance in MMOs seems to eventually lead to homogenization of the character classes.

This is part of the reason I no longer play MMOs of any sort and stick to single player CRPGs like Skyrim or Baldur's Gate, and traditional tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder.

This adventure seems to be designed for 4 players. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should modify it for possibly 7? For example, there is an encounter featuring 3 wolves... should I just increase the number to 5 or 6?

This was in response to a post in the other thread from Abraham Spalding regarding wizards and warfare. It really belongs here.

The relative rarity of spellcasters is immaterial. A functioning military organization that is any thing more than rough militia would logically go out of it's way to secure spellcasting units. A nation that possesd any level of magical practitioners would sensibly require some form of compulsory service. It would stand to reason that talented recruits would be selected for state sponsored military magical training. The Magus class lends itself to this almost by design. The crafting rules in PF make the creation of fireball wands a relatively inexpensive form of force multiplier.

That castles were largely made of wood is not an advantage in a world of fireballs and scorching rays. A defensive structure is not made obsolete by magic but it's design would be radically altered. Hellknights built a structure inside of a mountain, dumb on our own world since caves made it easy to cut off airflow, not so where portals to the plane of air can be erected. Magically reinforced masonry and structural supports would be common in fortification design, providing funding is available. Dungeon complexes are a silly notion of RPGs but not so much when you realize that they are far more secure from magical assault than an aboveground structure.

Flying creatures are rare admittedly. However their rarity is determined by food availability more than anything else. What is the life cycle of a griffon? I'd wager less than 20 years. If that's true then an organized breeding program could field a large flying force relatively quickly. Feeding a force of trained griffons would be expensive but hardly cost prohibitive. The advantage of aerial scouts who exceed the relative CR of the standard military unit is enormous. The Sable Company of Korvosa is elite, expensive and worth every penny to it's government. If trained griffons were mounted by war wizards who could extend the benefits of Mage Armor and...

Love this post. What I was thinking basically, but said with more style and flair!

1. Castles and other fortifications would likely have some sort of magical warding in many cases as added defense against hostile magic and creatures that can simply bypass or go through walls.

2. In a world with dragons, griffons, pegasi, etc, castles would also likely have covered battlements/towers and defenses specifically designed to ward off aerial attacks. Someone brought up ventilation etc, and I agree in our own world it would be a problem... but presumably in a world that has always had these flying menaces, innovations in plumbing, airflow, etc would likely have been invented.

3. Pathfinder is a high magic setting, but PC type heroes are still a rarity, and wizards would be nowhere near as common as some guy who can pick up and use a sword. Someone else mentioned wizards or other spell casters under heavy protection from meat shields. I agree.

4. Formations and tactics would likely be different as well, more loose formations as opposed to tight shield walls (beautiful fireball targets). Unless of course said shields were magically warded in some way.

5. The possibilities are endless, and there are numerous fantasy novels which have addressed the prospect of warfare which includes spells being cast left and right, magical healing, and the inclusion of supernatural creatures in the ranks.

I'm a long time D&D player who has recently become somewhat disenchanted with the direction WoTC has taken the game. On a suggestion, I picked up the Pathfinder core rulebook and I like what I see. I haven't had a chance to play it yet however and am wondering if any newbie/intro events will be held at PaizoCon. I live in the Seattle area so Bellevue is very convenient for me. Thanks in advance!

Just a note... I went directly from 2e AD&D to 4e, missed 3.0-3.5 altogether.